Man and Beast
by Dannrose
Summary: Sokka has two versions, the one everyone knows and the one no one does.


_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to my entry for Round Two of the Pro-bending Circuit.**_

 _ **Bonus Prompts-(colour) blue, (location) The North Pole, (quote) 'If we are completely honest with ourselves, everyone has a dark side to their personalities.'-Isabella Rosselini**_

 _ **Word Count-1026 words**_

* * *

 _ **Man and Beast**_

Sokka smashed his club into the frozen ground, feeling a slight satisfaction as the ice cracked.

He'd come out onto the tundra of the North Pole to get away from the city, away from its civility, its tameness and its suffocating culture. He needed to escape the rules of humanity, leave behind the expectations of others and run wild.

He pulled the club out of the ice and walked on, anger slightly abated. However, he knew it would return soon, for it had been building for days and it would take more than cracked ice to sate it.

For a long time, Sokka had been two in one, the version everyone saw and the version no one did. Meat-loving, sarcastic, goofy and, in all honesty, slightly cynical was the version of him everyone saw for that is the one he let them see. The other version was the hidden one and far more dangerous than his usual self, to anyone. This version was wild, powerful and merciless, it tore its foes asunder and destroyed whatever it got its claws on, very different from his normal self and a terrifying beast.

A beast that wanted out.

The boy had felt it coming for a while now, it was always present, growling away inside him every day, but at various times it wanted freedom and it was usually better to let it out for a bit. It didn't appreciate the slightly restrictive lifestyle of the Northern Water Tribe and had been screaming to get away from it so Sokka packed up some gear and told Aang and Katara he was going hunting overnight.

A night that was closing in fast, telling the boy it was time.

He pulled off his outer coat and paused with it in his hands as he looked at its colour.

Blue.

He liked blue, it was cool and soothing, representing the element of his tribe and reflecting the cold colours of his home. It was calm like his father, soft, the way his mother had been and it was blue that his tribe wore, making him feel like one of them.

Blue didn't suit the beast.

It was more like red, the colour of rage, war, the enemy. It was bold and loud and far too close to the red spilled upon pure white ice whenever the beast emerged.

Dropping the coat to the floor, he continued to shed his equipment. He wouldn't be needing it for quite some time and he was too far out for some stranger to find it. His other self was different in more than just emotional state; it didn't fit his clothes.

Gear shed, he let his anger surge upward and with it came the beast.

Within moments, his normal self was covered by the other, his body grown and altered as claws replaced nails, fur spread across his skin and his whole body shape changed. A howl was flung to the sky and then ears twitched, searching for sounds of prey, a nose sniffed the air and found a likely target nearby.

The beast was hungry.

* * *

The hunt was short and brutal.

It didn't take long to find the prey, a healthy adult polar leopard, and there was no need for stealth.

Breaking into an all-out sprint, the beast charged towards the other predator. The polar leopard saw its attacker and roared out challengingly, it stood its ground to fight and the beast howled in response as it launched itself at its foe.

The polar leopard made a valiant attempt at fighting but it was no match for the beast, the beast's mighty claws ripped through the leopard's side causing it to yowl in pain. A powerful jaw locked around the throat, teeth sunk in and in a frighteningly quick amount of time, crushed the windpipe.

It took mere moments for the polar leopard to die and the beast howled in victory, revelling in its successful hunt before turning its attention to eating.

Instinct was what powered the beast, a desire to hunt and eat was all it needed. The laws of humans, of civilisation, were of no consequence for it had everything it needed to survive. Sokka's human self followed the laws of humans, held respect for authority and his elders, but the beast did not. It was wild and primitive and that was all there was to it.

* * *

His blue clothes were still inside his pack where he'd stowed them. Beside the pack was the red that the beast had spilled and it led to the remains of the polar leopard.

Carefully, Sokka pulled out his clothes, putting them on and then attending to dealing with the beast's spoils. With the skills, his father had taught him, the boy extracted what he could from the carcass and properly packed it up to take back to the city.

Clad in blue, he left the red behind.

* * *

He returned to find Aang and Katara within the house they were staying at and he triumphantly entered, "Look who bagged a polar leopard!"

He proudly displayed what he'd taken from the carcass and Katara smiled at him, "Nice one Sokka. Dad will be so proud of you."

Sokka grinned back but noticed Aang shuffling uncomfortably, remembering the kid's unease with bloodshed, even in hunting, he quickly put his spoils aside and out of sight, "Sorry Aang, I know you don't really like things like that."

Aang gave a slight smile and shrugged, "It's okay." He then frowned, "I know it's a part of your culture but I still find it hard to imagine you hunting. It just seems so odd that you find it fun, it almost makes me feel like you have a darker side to yourself that I don't see."

Sokka shuffled uncomfortably, he most certainly had a darker side that Aang never saw and he feared the day when he and Katara saw it, "I guess I do but come to think of it," Sokka frowned thoughtfully, "If we are completely honest with ourselves, everyone has a dark side to their personalities."

He looked away slightly, "Some just have a greater dark side than others."


End file.
